Village of Roses

Chapter Six [V.o.R]

"No one else could possibly be feeling what I was. I hated my depression and all of its symptoms." – Susan Polis Schutz
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Loud cries broke Ryland's sleep. A sleep she didn't know she was in, the cries weren't as taunting as Ryder's from her dream or as soft as Katrina's – no these cries harbored from a scared child.

Where was she and how long had she been out? The last thing Ryland could remember was blacking out after seeing the empty white walls. It sent her back to a childhood she wanted to forget, "daddy she not moving!"

Opening one eye Ryland looked up to see a little girl squatted in front of her. She was a pretty mocha color with green hazel eyes and short curly hair. She couldn't be any older than nine but, she reminded Ryland of a younger her which cause Ryland to push herself up from the ground quickly sitting on her butt instead laying on stomach, Ryland pushed herself away from the younger girl who stopped crying and studied her.

Walking fast paced through the large home, Darnell rushed to find his daughter. Had something happened to her, did the woman he helped harm her? Pulling his gun out Darnell refused to let something happen to the only person he cared for besides his brother.

"Alexandria! Where you at," reaching the narrow hall Darnell placed his gun on to the ground and hugged Alex before inspecting the little girl. "Are you hurt, do you need to go to the hospital?" He asked causing his daughter to shake her head no. Squinting his eyes as he took in the woman across from him and Alexandria, Darnell looked back to his daughter. "Den what's wrong Bay?"

Pointing to Ryland Alex wiped her red eyes and hiccuped, "she wasn't moving and scared me. But now she scared of me. Daddy is that my mom?"

Immediately shaking his head no, Darnell could see the fear in the woman's eyes across from him. "Nah, yo mom's white. Go find Aunty Tracee or York. Bye little girl– give me kiss first." Placing a kiss on his face Alex frowned and left. Looking at the girl more Darnell could see her eye swollen shut and her lower lip had a few blisters but, it was nothing major. "Sorry bout her, you good?" placing a hand out in front of him Darnell offered to help Ryland up as she just stared at him.

After a minute with no response from her he placed his hand down and watched as she looked at her feet and grew wide eyed, "my shoes! What the fuck, you take my shoes or something?" Ryland asked causing Darnell to chuckle.

She was so worried about her shoes she couldn't feel her swollen eyes pulsing or the blisters on her lips cracking more. Holding his hands up as he smiled staring down at the woman, Darnell shook his head no, "I don't steal and you need to calm down before you bleed to death on the floor, my brother would kill me. You mind if I got a name?"

Looking at the man in front of her Ryland wanted to escape or magically disappear. He looked too much like Chris, he just had more tattoos and a sharper hairline. The boy looked like he could have been Chris and Katrina's child if Katrina could of had children.

Staring at him was painful but she couldn't look elsewhere, "I wanna go home."

"You heard da whack bitch. Limbs, open da door and let her leave. East side bitch probably ain't nothing but a snake." York came from around the corner holding a blunt between his fingers.

He had all Ryland's attention as he looked to have come from a large foyer. Where was she? These people were a little too unprofessional to be helping her with any addiction she may have had. The man who called the other man Limbs was around the same height as the one he talked to; he seemed shared a lot of facial features with 'Limbs' except for his bigger nose and even then he seemed to look alike the other man. Ryland could tell they were related it was obvious just like her and Ryder's similar names and looks.